Death by dog

Two dogs attack a middle-aged Bay of Plenty woman, writes The Southland Times in an editorial.
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A reminder, certainly, that a great many dogs can be dangerous. On the Invercargill City Council's dangerous dogs list there's even a chihuahua to be found. Small dogs can be just as agressive, and even more so as they have the 'small dog syndrome' which their owners make worse.

Inevitably, and appropriately, the adequacy of dog control practice and the legislation behind it will once again be scrutinised.

The point will be lost on nobody, however, that this exercise has been conducted many times before, sometimes with comparative dispassion and sometimes – notably the Carolina case – with a great deal of collective anger and heated concern. Measures to improve dog control and monitoring have extended to contentious microchipping requirements.

One conclusion that must be reached, however, is that at the very least more attention should paid to the unlovely but necessary task of better educating ourselves about what to do when confronted by, or even attacked by, a menacing dog.

READ THE REST ... excellent reading...

Many people will be quick to argue that it shouldn't come to this. But it does and the right sorts of response are still not sufficiently known.

Our children are perhaps being taught some measure of care around a dog, but are they taught to recognise in dogs the signs of aggression – and of fear – that lead to an attack. For that matter, do adults? Rules like always allowing even the most imposing dog room to "escape", not directly eyeballing the animal, and neither yelling and acting dominant nor (this may be harder) acting submissive.

Do we know that it's a good idea to stand with your shoulders off-square? To slowly circle with it if it starts walking around us.

And – horribly – do we know that if it attacks anyway that it's best to resist the temptation to tear yourself out of its mouth, because rips are worse than incisions and one bite is better than many? It's time for ugly practicalities to become better known.